Newly-released communications reveal that Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino did not discipline or investigate an agent who shot a U.S. citizen, and instead immediately praised him and offered to exempt him from the retirement age.
The documents, flagged by the Chicago Tribune, come as a federal court reviews the incident during last year’s “Operation Midway Blitz” in which Marimar Martínez, a local teacher, was shot five times.
The agent in question has been identified as Charles Exum. Body camera footage shows the agent’s Chevrolet Tahoe collided with Martínez’s vehicle, after which Exum got out of the vehicle, and five shots could be heard off camera.
The government’s assault charges against Martínez have since fallen apart, and she is moving to sue over her ordeal.
“The materials, obtained by the Tribune through an open records request after a judge agreed to lift a protective order, also included an email to Exum from Bovino … praising the agent on the afternoon of the shooting,” said the report. “‘Good afternoon,’ read the email, which was sent at 3:11 p.m. on Oct. 4, when Martínez was still hospitalized and had not yet been charged. ‘I would like to extend an offer to you to extend your retirement beyond age 57…. In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much left to do!!’”
While this was going on, said the report, Exum “exchanged a series of texts with his wife as well as a group of fellow agents under the name ‘Posse Chat.’ In one of them, someone Exum identified as ‘the guy from Vermont’ wrote, ‘Good job brother, glad you are unharmed and get to live to tell the story.’” The Vermont agent replied, “You are a legend among agents you better f—— know that. Beers on me when I see you at training.”
Following nationwide outrage and protests over a crackdown in Minneapolis that left two people dead, the Trump administration transferred Bovino back to his old position in California, seen by many observers as a demotion and a tacit acknowledgement of the backlash.
Bovino was shortly after ejected from a Las Vegas bar for “safety” reasons.
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